Not Alone
by guitar-goddess16
Summary: One shot. Hermione wasn't going to let Harry get away from her that easily. Things needed to be said before it was too late. Based off of scene in the last movie. Harry/Hermione.


**I finally worked up the courage and watched the last movie in the series. (After reading the books, I knew I would be very upset with it.) And then I saw this one scene that really sent me through the roof. And that's why I decided to write this (even though it's probably been done quite a few times) …that and I really don't want to write my research papers for school.**

Harry walked down the stairs of Hogwarts knowing it would be his last time to do so. Every step, length of railing and pile of rumble seemed so significant to him. Was it always this hard to walk to your death? Could anyone really find peace in this time?

He wished the answer was yes to the last question. But he knew no one could come to terms with dying so quickly. He certainly wasn't eye to eye with death. Hiding under his invisibility cloak was beginning to sound very good…but he knew what needed to be done.

Harry knew the hardest part of this was going behind his friends' backs. They had done so much for him and he was just going to leave them to finish of Voldemort but with Harry's sacrifice, that would finally be possible as long as Hermione and Ron could kill that snake.

Maybe giving himself up was for the best. He knew that there was sacrifice involved with everything and in the back of his head; he always knew he would have to pay the highest price for the end of this. That was probably the reason no one wanted to be the hero: no one could pay the price.

Harry paused at the top of the last flight of stairs. His two friends were at the bottom, sitting. Harry knew they were either waiting for him or trying to stay out of the Great Hall where so many dead lay. There was no way around them so he had to walk past them. But if he did that, they would surely try to stop him.

He looked down at his two friends who sat together. They had a chance to live if he did this. That was all he could do. He couldn't let them stop him. He was doing this for them after all. Knowing what he had to do, he walked down the set of stairs, ready to face his friends.

Hermione was the first to hear him approach and when she did, she stood up to turn towards him. "Harry," She breathed, "We thought you had gone to the forest and turned yourself over." Her chocolate brown eyes didn't hold their usual light. She looked as if she had endured far more than her years. Harry assumed they could all do with a load less worry.

Harry suddenly found his shoes very intriguing to stare at. Ron too had enough sense not to speak. "You weren't thinking of going down there, were you Harry?" Hermione had to keep the laugh out of her voice. The idea was preposterous after all.

"I may have been," Harry said through a thick voice. Could he lie to Hermione? She was his best friend after all the years of being at Hogwarts. He didn't want the last time she saw him to be tainted with lies. Well, he didn't want their last few minutes to go like this either.

"Bloody hell," Ron whispered and hung his head. "First there's Fred and now you, my best mate. You've lost it if you think we're going to let you leave." Harry frowned. He thought Ron would be the understanding one and Hermione the one to lose it.

"It has to be done," Harry muttered. He stepped forward towards them and continued, "I'm doing this for you both. No one is going to keep dying because I'm not brave enough. It's going to end tonight." His shoulders were set and his teeth clenched. He wasn't going to be moved.

He stood on this even when a few stray tears fell down Hermione's dirty face. Her lower lip was trembling and she had to bit it down to keep her cry in. How could he think like that? "There has to be another way," Hermione told him, "We've done impossible things before."

Harry shook his head. Ron looked down and choked back all of his words. This wasn't his fight to fight. His duty was here at Hogwarts defeating more death eaters and protecting his family. "Hermione…" Ron stood up and put a hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged him off and climbed a few steps to get closer to Harry, "You're not going to do this alone." Tears were beginning to fall more freely and her voice shook. Composing herself was no longer a concern.

"I'm not going to let you die with me," Harry protested. "You have to kill his snake when he comes back. After that, you can kill Voldemort. I can't trust anyone else to that job." Nothing could have been more painful to say. He would give anything to die next to the people he loved instead of surrounded by Death Eaters.

"It's not just your decision to make!" Hermione yelled. She moved up so she was standing eye to eye with Harry, "Ron can kill Voldemort. I'll go with you. You shouldn't have to do this alone."

Ron was rather taken aback by this. Hermione rather die with Harry than fight with him and possibly live. He didn't want Harry to go alone either but he didn't want Hermione to die either. "Hermione, come off it. He's made up his mind."

Neither Ron nor Harry could meet each other's eyes. None of them wanted to hear what he was saying. Harry gulped and tried to put on his bravest face. "He's right, Hermione. Don't make this worse."

"You're the only one making things worse Harry Potter!" She cried and threw her hands up, "Don't you realize we love you enough to die with you? Can't you just let us do this? We're supposed to be friends, Harry." Harry flinched when she said 'friends'. It was supposed to be a positive term but it hurt worse than anything Harry had experienced.

"Goodbye, Hermione, Ron," Harry said clearly. He wanted to make sure they couldn't misinterpret what he was saying. "I couldn't ask for better friends. Finish this for me." Ron nodded in agreement and said nothing more than 'Sure mate.'

Hermione shook her head and tried to wipe away some of her tears. "You're…" But before she could insult him further, he pulled her into a hug. This wasn't something Harry would normally do but it felt right. He could at least do that for her.

She buried her face into his shoulder and let more tears flow out. Harry ran a hand over her bushy and dirty hair and held onto her as tight as ever. "You can't just die after all we've done. We've come too far so we could all live."

"I'm doing this so everyone else has a chance at living," Harry muttered as she shook with another cry. "I love you. You did amazing Hermione. We couldn't have made it this far without you."

No more words could be said to make this situation any less grim. The sounds of Hermione's cries were the only thing to be heard in the stairwell. Harry looked up at Ron and begged with his eyes for any kind of help.

He nodded and moved forward to where the two friends stood in embrace. "Come on Hermione," He tried to pull her away but she struggled and held onto Harry. There was no way she was going to willingly let go.

"I have to go, Hermione," Harry told her and tried to push her gently into Ron. But she fought even more and tried to elbow Ron in the gut. After much struggling, Ron finally got Hermione away from Harry and had her around the waist, from behind, holding her back.

Harry looked back at them one last time and then walked out the building. His feet felt like lead, his body was fighting against his choice. Every cell in his body was yelling for him to turn around while he could but he pushed on until cool grass was beneath his feet.

"Let me go, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione cried loudly. She pushed against his arms and kicked her legs around aimlessly. She had to stop Harry, and if not at all, she had to join him. She wasn't going to let the person she loved most, her best friend, die without someone next to him.

"You heard him!" Ron held her back. "You'll only die too if you follow him." Ron had never been so confused. He thought Hermione loved him more for once. He thought that he had finally got something Harry never could. But that apparently wasn't the case anymore. Maybe he was just her second choice since she didn't have Harry.

"Ronald, you will let me go this instant!" Hermione kicked back into his shin and he had no choice but to let go out of instinct. Hermione wasted no time before running off leaving Ron grunting and moaning.

"That's fine; I always knew you loved him and not me!" Ron yelled in anger. Fred was dead, his mate was running right into the face of death and who he thought to be his girlfriend was leaving him to die with him.

Hermione let the tears fall down her face without any interference. They didn't matter now. All that mattered was reaching Harry before he entered that forest! Her feet soon began to hit grass instead of stone and she was all but slipping over the damp grass.

Her side was hurting from so much exertion and her breath becoming ragged. Her vision was blurred from so many tears and dirt from battling. Her mind was void of all thought except for one person: Harry. She didn't focus on running, breathing or what would happen when she found him. Chanting his name in her head over and over again gave her the will and strength to keep running.

"Harry James Potter!" She yelled at the person walking ahead of her. The person, Harry, slowly stopped and turned around. Could that possibly be Hermione Granger running towards him? He stood paralyzed as she threw her arms around him and held him in a bone crushing hug. "I told you not to go!"

"I have a tendency not to listen to you the first time," Harry smiled into her hair. But then he remembered why this was happening. She was joining him to die. His face became somber and his grip on her tightened. "You shouldn't have come."

"I had to," she whispered. She debated in her head for a few seconds as to whether or not to say what was about to pour out of her. But her mouth did all the talking as if it wasn't under command from her brain, "I couldn't let you go before I told you this…I love you Harry. I've been so stupid and I wish I could go back and change it. But it's too late now and I'm going to prove to you how much I wished things could be different for us."

If Harry's heart could break any more, it would've shattered at these lines. "You don't have to prove anything, Hermione. I believe you." he paused and tried to bite back his next words. It wouldn't matter to anyone else what he said now. They were about to die with their secrets. "I don't really know what it feels like to be 'in love' but if I did, I'm sure that would be what I feel about you."

Hermione's heart stopped, or so it seemed. She longed to hear those words, or anything close to it, for a long time. She denied for years she loved Harry and in the end, it didn't do her any good. "We're going to die before we can do anything about it," Hermione told him sadly.

Harry shook his head and pulled back slightly from their embrace and did the only thing that seemed logical at the point: He kissed Hermione Granger. His lips crashed over hers and her hands tangled themselves into his hair.

Never in his years did Harry think he would be here kissing Hermione, his best friend. And he certainly never thought it would be the best feeling he ever experience. Every nerve was on end, tingles shot up his spine and their lips fit perfectly with each other's.

Harry pulled back slightly and rested his forehead against hers. They were both dirty, injured, tired and near insanity. But that one moment was more enchanting and perfect than anything else they had ever experienced.

"We can do this," Hermione whispered as she took his hand in hers. And so they did. They walked hand in hand together into the Forbidden Forest uncertain of their fate but certain of one thing:

They weren't going down alone.

**I left it open to interpretation since I hate when authors say it has to end a certain way…anyway like my Facebook page (guitar-goddess16) for previews of upcoming stories and review. It really helps! I hope to have another one shot up soon! Thanks for reading!**


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